The Dayton-based company that my sister Sandy Keplinger and I own — a contract metal fabrication company called Staub Manufacturing Solutions — just had an incredible year. Sandy and I expect an even better 2018. And, as is often the case in the history of American enterprise, our success is becoming everyone’s success. It is benefiting our employees and their families. It is helping our suppliers and customers. It is building our community and it is growing our economy: Dayton’s economy, Ohio’s economy and America’s economy. Increasingly, this kind of optimism is becoming the default for businesses across our country. That is no accident. As the NAM survey I mentioned showed, an important reason why manufacturers are so optimistic about the future is this: they see new policies from Washington that are finally freeing our country to succeed.

During the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump came to Dayton to visit our company and meet with our team.